Why you still need a blog for your creative business in 2022
Why do you still need a blog for your creative business in 2022?
Often when I begin coaching creative business owners some of the biggest questions they ask me is ‘aren’t blogs dead?’, ‘what should I blog about?’, or ‘how often should I blog?’ – however the real questions we should be asking is how often should I blog and what should I write about.
In today’s blog post I’m going to be covering why it’s such a good idea, in future podcasts and blog posts I will then show you my system to creating consistent, good quality content that converts into bookings and sales.
Over the last two decades the way we consume our content and learn what we need to do in business has changed dramatically – the rise of social media has led us to consuming information in ever differing ways – we rapidly consume hundreds of pieces of content a day (compared to perhaps reading one newspaper or magazine). Information is currency in a totally different way.
Why should you blog?
There are so many reasons:
Reach more customers - the more regular, good quality content you produce, the more likely you are to increase eyes on your business – it’s simple maths.
Establish your niche – talking about the specific problems, questions, inspiration and benefits of your products or services really helps your audience understand whether you have the experience and understanding of their unique problems, hopefully more so than any of your competitors.
Improve your SEO - to get better website traffic one of the simplest ways to aim for the ever-elusive page 1 on Google is just to blog regularly and well.
Establish your authority in your niche – don’t be afraid to give away some of your very best content, if people can see you know your stuff, then they’re much more likely to want you to help them too. Use testimonials, show your results.
Collaborate with others - for better audience building by guest posting on yours/on other’s blogs. Harness the power of a dual audience, find suitable complementing products or services that go and in hand with your own (without competing).
Build trust – by showing up regularly to a schedule and talking with authority your audience learns to trust you and consistency here is key.
Show off your work – a blog is a great way to support your portfolio with timely reporting on your current projects or new launches, sharing more images and information that you wouldn’t fit onto your portfolio pages.
Build relationships – if you create useful blog posts your readers/potential clients will start to interact with you, if not by commenting on the post itself, perhaps by the social media posts you use to point to your blog. Remember that Know>Like>Trust relationship.
Encourage dialogue and engagement – a blog post should always encourage dialogue and interaction, ensuring you remain uppermost in a potential client’s mind.
Generate more income – a blog post gives you an additional way to pint directly to your products or services. You might also consider affiliate marketing or ads in your blog posts.
Increase income – quite simply good blogging will always lead to more sales - especially if you are addressing hurdles/FAQs to buying or booking your products or services
There are some compelling reasons why you should still consider blogging one of the best ways to reach your potential clients:
30% of consumers say that content quality makes a blog more credible
Over 409 million people view more than 21.1 billion pages per month
70% of consumers would prefer to learn more about a company via a blog than an advert
82% of marketers who blog consistently see positive ROI (Return on Investment) from inbound efforts
41% of marketers that curate content say it has increased the quality of their leads
77% of internet users read blogs on a regular basis
[Source: UK web Host Review]
Tune into my podcast to hear more about how I go about blogging and how it forms part of my whole content strategy, with minimal effort, stress and boredom!